Some Days Are Magic

 Hindsight is good, 

foresight is better; 

but second sight is best of all.

~ Evan Esar*

Don't get excited, I don't have second sight. But I do sometimes seem to "know things." I might know I'm going to see someone in a few minutes - what they will do - with whom they will be - what they will say to me. ** Or I might have a flash of something that will happen in the future.*** It's not the winning lottery numbers or anything like that - at least not yet. 

But I sometimes seem to have a connection to the birds.

For instance - as I was driving toward class this morning (I was early and decided to check a birdwatching area).

Earlier in the drive I thought about how the strange weather of the summer had impacted the birds. I watch the birds in a few spots regularly enough that I know when to expect them to arrive and when they will leave. And I mentally shamed a favorite. "I always see the scissor-tails preparing to migrate (males gather in a group before heading out and often put on a bit of a display), but not this year. They have left without saying goodbye," I thought. 

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher saying "goodbye"

I drove the short dog-leg of a country road and saw little - a heron, some egrets, ducks, cows, but nothing else. 

Until there it was - a bird on a utility wire. I stopped to take a look. It was a solitary scissor-tail.  Had it come to say goodbye?

I returned to this place I call "the ponds" twice more this day. Once just before dark, hoping to capture a sunset for some friends.

On the second trip I saw a crows, the Bald Eagle, another Great Blue Heron and an Eastern Phoebe, a waterlogged Red-tailed Hawk, and more ducks. I watched one of the crows harass the eagle and took shots of the hawk which had preened and was looking much more itself as I left the area.

These Great Egrets appear to be in conversation...

but they are on trees about 10 feet apart. The angle of my view makes them appear together.

The ponds are still shallow. Here some mushrooms had popped up near where the cattle were grazing and drinking. I had hoped it was a cattle egret. From a distance I could not tell, but the camera brings things closer.

This drenched Red-tailed Hawk was guarding the entrance to the area.  The hawk was busy preening and drying out its feathers (note the later photo when it is dried out a bit.

The "murder" of crows. Two is a couple; three is a few; so 4 is a murder.

Eastern Phoebe. I heard it calling "Phoebe" and then it flew up to this branch.

Great Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Here's the Red-tailed Hawk again. It looks much more composed.

I thought about more birds I'd not seen for a while. In the past I'd see Crested Caracaras regularly along this road, but none recently. To be honest, I'd not been stalking the birds here as often as I had in the past. The drought and my changed schedule worked against frequent visits.

So, as the sun began to set I turned down the road one last time. A downpour across the river was blocking part of the sunset and sending out a stunning display of light I thought I'd try to catch. And as I turned the corner, there they were. Two Crested Caracaras were perched in a tree above a pond. 

It was getting dark and the camera had difficulty focusing. [These are also known as Mexican Eagles.]

These trees were full of birds preparing to roost for the night. Most were Mourning Doves.

It was a special day. The birds appeared as if they heard my thoughts. It was magic.

NOTE:

* While Evan Esar did exist, there is no scientific evidence that second sight exists.

** Once I was driving to a lunch meeting and I thought,"I'm going to see X (a young man - young enough to be my son -  who was indeed almost family). He will be sitting with a young woman but facing the door. He will seem me, get up, come over to where I am standing, greet me, and kiss me on the cheek." And it all happened just like that. 

*** Even before we were dating I had a flash of knowledge that I was going to marry DH. Of course I "pooh-poohed" the idea. 

And he brought me here some 6 years ago while I was sick and couldn't drive. We had heard it was a "birding hot-spot." On that first trip we saw a Bald Eagle. It was the first one I ever saw in the wild.

A spot shower rained down between the sunset and the river. My camera couldn't capture the loveliness of it - as rays shot through breaks in the clouds.